Liberty High School sharpshooters hit No. 1 spot in nation
June 30, 2011
NEW — 6 p.m. June 30, 2011
After an incredible show of teamwork, Liberty High School’s National Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps placed first nationwide as scholastic military champions at the National Rifle Association Air Gun Competition on June 23-25.
“As a team, they scored better than any other team in the nation,” Liberty naval science instructor Al Torstenson said.
Five Liberty air rifle team students — including graduating seniors Tyler Snook, Jackie Chueng and Murphy Ransier, incoming senior John Lorenz and incoming junior Sean Denson — flew to Camp Perry, Ohio, for the championship.
The coaches, Art Weatherford and senior naval science instructor Cmdr. Dan Joslin, accompanied the team.
Though the students won first place, “probably everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” such as equipment malfunctions, Weatherford said. But, “It wasn’t anything the kids weren’t able to rise to.”
Contentious Interstate 90 pedestrian bridge to open Friday
June 30, 2011
NEW — 8 a.m. June 30, 2011
The pedestrian bridge at Interstate 90 and state Route 900 is due to open Friday, months after the expected completed date.
Delays related to the bridge pilings and inclement weather slowed construction on the $6.2 million project. The connector separates bicyclists and pedestrians from the busy roadway. The structure includes a 12-foot-wide pedestrian bridge across the westbound interstate on-ramp and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian crossing on the state Route 900 overpass.
The city contributed $354,000 to the connector. Federal and Sound Transit dollars covered the remainder.
The bridge is due to open by late Friday, after more than a decade of planning and sometimes-contentious discussions among city officials, transit advocates and trails enthusiasts.
Maple Hills Elementary School gets new principal
June 29, 2011
NEW — 4 p.m. June 29, 2011
A new eagle has landed at Maple Hills Elementary School.
Sondra Maier, an elementary school teacher in the Federal Way School District, will take the reigns as principal of the school in July.
The former Maple Hills principal, Monique Beane, announced in June that she would move to Pacific Cascade Middle School, where she would work as assistant principal.
Shortly after Beane’s departure, Issaquah School District administrators began the search for her replacement. Parents filled out surveys online, indicating their preference for a principal who promoted transparency, collaboration and high standards, said an email district Superintendent Steve Rasmussen sent to parents on Wednesday.
“I believe we have found those qualities — in abundance — in Ms. Maier,” he wrote.
Swedish/Issaquah prepares to open / June 2011
June 29, 2011
Fire roars through empty High Point home
June 29, 2011
NEW — 12:30 p.m. June 29, 2011
Eastside Fire & Rescue responded to a house fire in the High Point area late Wednesday morning, after a neighbor reported flames shooting from the home’s roof.
The neighbor said no one is home at the house near 282nd Avenue Southeast and Southeast 66th Street, about six miles east of downtown Issaquah.
The narrow road leading to the house posed a challenge for fire crews. The area does not have fire hydrants, prompting EFR to call a water tender, or tanker truck, to the scene.
“Equipment is critical, but you need people on a fire, so we want to make sure we don’t want to stack all of the equipment so we’re all jammed in there and the water tender can’t get in there and out,” EFR spokeswoman Josie Williams said.
The fire caused extensive damage. Neighbors managed to rescue dogs from the inside the house as the blaze spread.
Firefighters received the call at 11:47 a.m. Wednesday. EFR has since requested a King County fire investigate to determine the cause of the blaze.
Issaquah hospital is designed to transform health care
June 28, 2011
Workers install 12 flat panel monitors in the Swedish/Issaquah atrium for a video wall to display artwork and information. By Greg Farrar
Groundbreaking design is meant to soothe patients, employees at Swedish/Issaquah
The hospital due to open soon in the Issaquah Highlands is designed to be more than a hospital.
The atrium, all blond wood and glass, resembles a mall or airport concourse more than a health care facility. Crews installed a dozen screens just inside the entrance to function as a digital art piece designed to display nature scenes from the Pacific Northwest. Nearby, baristas prepare cappuccinos and proffer scones.
Swedish/Issaquah price tag reaches $365 million
June 28, 2011
Swedish/Issaquah is designed to change ideas about health care across a broad spectrum, from how patients heal to how a hospital uses energy.
The innovations did not come cheap.
The cutting-edge facility in the Issaquah Highlands cost $365 million — $165 million for the medical office building scheduled to open July 14 and another $200 million for the hospital phase due to open in November. The price tag includes the 18 acres Swedish Medical Center purchased for the campus.
Swedish financed the construction project by tapping into reserves and selling 30-year bonds. The nonprofit health care system did not use any public money to build the facility.
Kevin Brown, Swedish senior vice president and chief administrative officer, said the highlands facility benefited from a $100 million fundraising campaign meant to fund capital projects throughout the hospital system.
Issaquah family bids bittersweet goodbye after decade in business
June 28, 2011
Goodfellas Sandwich Shop, a decade-old gathering spot for Issaquah High School sports teams and office workers on lunch breaks, closed June 24 after owners Steve and Melinda Sanelli stacked the last sandwiches.
Jessica Crites (back row, from left), Mario Sanelli, Julie Donate, Stephen Sanelli, Sicily Sanelli, Nolan Graham, Angelina Edwins and Tyler Edwins join Melinda Sanelli (front row, from left) Brody Edwins and Steve Sanelli for a last lunch at Goodfellas Sandwich Shop on June 21. Contributed
Steve Sanelli, a longtime South Cove resident and Issaquah High assistant baseball coach, said business was good, but the impending closure stems from a disagreement between the eatery and the building owner.
“It would be one thing if I was failing in business and we had to close,” he said. “This is something that’s not my choice.”
For Sanelli and other family members, the closure is about more than the bottom line.
“When you’re in business this long, it kind of becomes who you are,” Melinda Sanelli said. “In a way, you feel like you’re being stripped of your personality and how everyone sees you and what you stand for.”
The closure announcement came as a surprise to employees and customers.
City Council enacts moratorium on medical marijuana gardens
June 28, 2011
Issaquah leaders enacted a six-month moratorium on medical marijuana collective gardens June 20, as the city prepares to address a state law meant to clarify the hazy rules surrounding medical marijuana.
City Council members enacted the moratorium in a unanimous decision. State law authorizes a city to impose a moratorium as leaders consider possible land-use or zoning changes. The pause is meant to allow city leaders to consider options for collective gardens.
Under state law, up to 10 qualifying patients can join together and form a collective garden of up to 45 plants, so long as the marijuana is not visible from public spaces.
The initial measure before the council included language about a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries as well. Councilman Fred Butler eliminated the language before the vote.
“The reason for deleting ‘medical marijuana dispensaries’ is, they’re currently illegal and were not addressed in the” recent state legislation, he said before the council decision.
Alternative proms gain a following
June 28, 2011
Sixteen-year-old North Bend junior Kayla Morrill wanted to go to prom this year, yet she faced a crisis.
Kayla Morrill talks with Mary Cook, first counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at Issaquah’s alternative prom. Contributed
“A lot of my friends couldn’t go to the high school prom, so we went to a different one,” she said.
In today’s language, a different prom is what has become known as an alternative prom, commonly called a modest prom. Such proms are events that cater to teens who opt out of their school dance for a variety of reasons.
“A regular prom would have been way too expensive,” Morrill explained.
Another benefit?
“None of that dirty-dancing stuff,” she said.
